1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally pertains to video conferencing and, more particularly, to a video and/or audio capture device for video and audio communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video conferencing generally refers to a live connection between two or more participants in separate locations for the purpose of audio and video communication. At its simplest, video conferencing provides transmission of images and text between two locations. At its most sophisticated, it provides transmission of full motion video images and high quality audio between two or more locations. Video conferencing may be performed a variety of ways. In most cases, each participant has a display, video camera, microphone and speaker. As the two participants communicate, the sound from their voices are collected by their respective microphones and delivered to the other's speaker. In addition, whatever images appear in front of the video camera are collected by the video camera and delivered to the other participant's display. Video conferences may be performed using computer networks, ISDN telecommunication links, and the like.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a video conferencing system 10. The system 10 includes at least two workstations 12 and 14 that are connected via a communication network 16. By way of example, the network may correspond to closed network (such as a LAN), a public network (such as the Internet or phone lines), and the like. The workstations 12 and 14 may be a receiver, transmitter or both (transceiver). In most cases, both workstations 12 and 14 are transceivers so that they can communicate back and forth (e.g., send and receive data). Although the workstations 12 and 14 may be widely varied, in FIG. 1 each workstation 12 and 14 includes a computer 18 and a display screen 20. The computer 18 is a host device for separate peripheral devices such as a camera 22, a microphone 24 and a speaker 26. By way of example, the computer 18 may be an Apple based or PC based computer and the camera may be a webcam or netcam. The relationship between the computer and the peripheral devices is typically master-slave where the master controls the slaves. For example, the computer determines when the peripheral devices are activated and deactivated.
During video conferencing, the computers 18 are linked via the network 16 such that data generated by the cameras 22 (e.g., video or images) and microphones 24 (e.g., audio) may be transmitted to the other computer 18. The computer 18 typically executes the data transmissions under the control of software 28. The software 28 may include conferencing software that helps link the computers together and to control the transmission and reception of data associated with the peripheral devices (e.g., may help broadcast video camera images to a known recipient or indiscriminately to a web page). In most cases, the conferencing software 28 requests data from the camera 22 and microphone 24 and thereafter causes the data to be transmitted to the other computer. When the transmitted data is received by the other computer 18, it is output via the display screen 20 (e.g., video or images) and speaker 26 (e.g., audio).
Unfortunately, there are problems associated with conferencing systems such as those described above. One of the problems is privacy. In particular, a user may be watched or listened to by another user without knowledge that these events are occurring. For example, one of the users may forget to shutdown the conferencing software thus enabling another user to use the data being generated by the video camera and microphone. This can occur when the user fails to fully close the software that controls the camera or microphone. For example, the software is not closed if its associated window is merely minimized. In order to overcome this, the video camera or microphone may include a light emitting diode (LED) to alert the unsuspecting user that the system is still active. That is, the LED provides a visual indication to the user, i.e., turns on when the conferencing system is active and turns off when the conferencing system is deactivated. Unfortunately, however, the LED is controlled by the conferencing software and thus the LED can be tricked into indicating that the system is off when it is actually still on. This case is worse than not having an LED because the user relies on the LED to give accurate information. There simply is no true indication that the transmissions have been shut down.
In lieu of the above, there is a need for an improved audio/video capture device.